I hate Rasberry Pi

[md]

Um, the raspberry pi is pretty simple. It's small because there isn't much to it.

The point of the Raspi isn't to make a simple computer either though, it is to make a cheap computer which would allow every student to have their own. I would say that they've succeeded.

As for actually getting your hands on one, I *should* get one in the mail in the next week or so and then two more before the end of June. When I get one perhaps I'll do a quick review of it (if there's interest).

[Raknarg]

Really? When I heard about it, it was explained to me basically as a teaching tool, to explain how computers work or something. Nevermind then.

[ProgrammingFun]

Raknarg @ Sun May 13, 2012 8:10 pm wrote:

Really? When I heard about it, it was explained to me basically as a teaching tool, to explain how computers work or something. Nevermind then.

Yeah, according to the inventor, it was given a charity twist to avoid suppliers ripping them off for parts and hence driving up the price.

I ordered mine last week for $35 from element14 ($12 shipping whut?) but I have no idea when it'll ship.

[md]

ProgrammingFun @ 2012-05-14, 6:31 am wrote:

Raknarg @ Sun May 13, 2012 8:10 pm wrote:

Really? When I heard about it, it was explained to me basically as a teaching tool, to explain how computers work or something. Nevermind then.

Yeah, according to the inventor, it was given a charity twist to avoid suppliers ripping them off for parts and hence driving up the price.

It's a charity because they are re-investing the small amount of profit they make into education about programming, and because they are not in it to make a huge profit.

[mirhagk]

Insectoid @ Sun May 13, 2012 12:41 pm wrote:

hamid14 @ Sun May 13, 2012 12:03 pm wrote:

I thougth this thing was pretty sweet, until i read that it runs linux. If this could run xp or 7 (doubt it) with ease, then I'd think about buying it. Also there are other tiny computers for less than $150.

What do you want to do with this that you need Windows? Linux is fine for what Raspberry Pi will be used for. Also, the cost to ship it with a Windows license is probably more than the total cost of the computer itself. Win8 should be able to run on this eventually since an ARM release is planned.

Actually the fact that it is linux knocks out quite a few of my ideas. Most of them are things like turning it into a tablet-like pc with XNA (since using openGL would take too long to actually be worth it), and things with the Kinect and C# (which are still possible of course, just going to be more difficult as I need to learn a new system for all of them). The biggest thing was an idea that quite a few people had, and that would've been an amazing selling point to the masses. You can hook this up to a tv with very little effort, so this could've been a very low cost netflix/crackle device. That is not a possibility without windows and silverlight, and while I'm debating setting up a system with bittorrent to have the same effect, it's more difficult, iffy legality, and not for the masses.

One area this could kill is in a low cost, completely mod-able console. The thing is that these devices are so small and cheap that you could build in network computing, and have various games require multiple raspberry pi's to operate. A 700 Mhz processor with 256 MB ram is decent enough for smaller games, and then better games could quite simply operate on multiple devices. For instance you could have one device handle all the animation, another one handle the physics, another AI, and one just to link them all together. A dedicated 700 Mhz CPU with a GPU that supports 1080p could probably handle decent graphics (not top of the line games of course, but probably low settings for most games). This is something I am going to be interested in working on, and since the device is already out there, all you need to work on is the software. If anyone knows of a tutorial or something on how to customize a flavour of linux that would be awesome, mostly I'm looking at just providing a different user interface that is centered around games and works with a controller rather than a mouse and a keyboard (although both could be supported).

[hamid14]

if its a computer with any OS like linux/windows/mac there can't be an intended purpose, because the consumer that buys it can choose to not use it for the intended purpose. I use my shoe box as a safe box for all my cash, but it was meant to hold shoes.[/quote]

[Raknarg]

Just because you use something other than its intended purpose doesnt mean thats not its intended purpose. Im guesssing you've been on reddit enough; some teenagers dont wear all their socks.

[md]

On a non-"this lacks windows and therefore I'm dumb" note, my first Pi arrived today! Gotta try out the debian package and see what's what.

[hamid14]

do they ship a casing for it when you buy it?

[md]

hamid14 @ 2012-05-15, 10:05 am wrote:

do they ship a casing for it when you buy it?

Nope, bare board (as advertised).

So far it seems to run quite nicely, especially with the Arch Linux port. The debian port was kinda slow and running the default X desktop was painful due to the lack of memory.

The biggest issue I see is that an SD card is going to have a very limited lifetime when used for this sort of thing (and is kinda slow). Using a USB hard drive for root is probably a much better idea (if it'll power it, I have yet to try it).

[ProgrammingFun]

Wait, one question, they say you need a miniUSB to power this, one that gives 5V. Can I use the standard ones that come with any electronic? I think those are 12v, not sure...or do I need to order that special adapter separately as well?

[mirhagk]

is mini usb the one that every phone (except iphone) uses?

[ProgrammingFun]

mirhagk @ Tue May 15, 2012 5:51 pm wrote:

is mini usb the one that every phone (except iphone) uses?

Yes...

md, please answer my question when you see it

[chrisbrown]

@PF: All USB devices use 5 volts, although current capabilities vary. The R-Pi needs 700mA which is fairly high, so you'll need to make sure your power source can supply that.

@mirhagk: This one. It's actually a micro-B connector.

[ProgrammingFun]

chrisbrown @ Tue May 15, 2012 11:30 pm wrote:

@PF: All USB devices use 5 volts, although current capabilities vary. The R-Pi needs 700mA which is fairly high, so you'll need to make sure your power source can supply that.

Thanks for letting me know.
I guess I'll just have to order it from element14 then.